Secretary for Local Government & Community Development (LGCD) Department Dr. Irshad Ahmed has said that there would be no compromise on the deadlines of external aided projects of the LGCD Department and all the Project Directors (PD) should prepare a priority plan to complete those projects in time. He said “If the development project is not completed according to the given targets, the cost increases tremendously which is not acceptable.”
Dr. Irshad Ahmad was taking a briefing from the PDs of Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement & investment Program (PICIIP), Punjab Cities Program (PCP) and Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Program (PRSWSSP) at Civil Secretariat on Thursday.
The Secretary said that the contract awarding and payment system of development schemes should be 100% transparent. He said delayed work causes suffering to the people due to the corrupt mafia. He directed all the three PDs to review all the obstacles in the timely completion of the projects and take an alternative route. “The request would be made to the Election Commission of Pakistan so that the fixed deadlines are not affected.”, he added.
The PD of PICIIP Hamza Salik, while briefing the Secretary, said that under PICIIP Phase 1, parks in Sahiwal and Sialkot had been opened for public, while in Phase 2, clean water and solid waste management facility would be provided. He told that 7 more cities had been selected for management and sanitation projects. Earlier, in a briefing on behalf of PD Punjab Cities Program, Syed Zahid Aziz, told that 45 projects had been completed under PCP. whereas PD of PRSWSSP briefed that 200 village had been selected for clean water and solid waste management.
He said that in the second phase, filtration plants and other facilities would be provided in 1800 villages. Special Secretary LGCD Pervaiz Iqbal, Additional Secretary Development Maria Tariq and other relevant officers also attended the meeting.
